Blast furnace cooling plates



June 13, 1967 w. E. LOECHER 3,325,159

BLAST FURNACE COOLING PLATES Filed Aug. 19, 1964 INVENTOR. 25' WAYNE E. LOECHER ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,325,159 BLAST FURNACE COOLING PLATES Wayne E. Loecher, Meadville, Pa., assignor to Abex Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 390,658 2 Claims. (Cl. 266-32) This invention relates to cooling plates and their manner of employment in a blast furnace.

Portions of the walls of blast furnaces are often-times provided with blade-like cooling plates through which cooling water is circulated to reduce the temperature of the furnace wall and thereby prolong the life of the furnace wall. The typical furnace wall has an outer steel shell and an inner lining of fire brick. The cooling plates are inserted through openings in the shell and into cavities formed in the fire brick. The area in the cavity about the cooling plate is usually packed with fire clay which itself is relatively porous. The heavy pressure of the burden in the blast furnace causes, in time, a shifting of the fire brick and in turn a shifting of the cooling plates. The shifting of the fire brick results in cracks forming in and about the fire bricks and fire clay permitting the escape of furnace gas from the interior of the furnace outwardly through the openings in the steel shell in which are inserted the cooling plates.

While various holders or adapters for cooling plates have been employed in the past to locate and hold the cooling plates in position, these holders and adapters have not afforded a complete seal with the furnace shell to prevent the escape of furnace gas, fire brick has shifted. Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to prevent the escape of blast furnace gas about a cooling plate by affording a new and novel sealed holder for a cooling plate for a blast furnace.

Another object of the present invention is a novel holder for securing a cooling plate to the metal shell of the furnace to retain the cooling plate in proper position and to serve as an attachment for the rigid water connections to prevent the tendency of these water connections to leak with movement of the cooling plates.

A further object of the invention is a novel holder having a sealed plate and cannister adapted to be connected to the furnace shell so as to provide a hermetic seal to prevent escape of furnace gas through the furnace wall at a cooling plate location.

A more specific object of the present invention is to secure a cooling plate to an encircling flange at the rear of the cooling plate and hermetically seal the flange to a cannister disposed about the opening in the furnace shell for the cooling plate.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawing which, by way of illustration, show preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principles thereof and What is now considered to be the best mode contemplated for applying these principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a furnace wall with a cooling plate inserted therein in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view showing FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the invention showing a cooling plate with an integral attaching and sealing flange.

the cooling plate of particularly after the 'ice Referring noW to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a portion of a conventional blast furnace wall 10 consisting of an outer metallic shell 12 and an inner lining of fire brick 13. Because of the high temperatures involved in the blast furnace, portions of the blast furnace wall 10 are provided with cooling plates such as the cooling plate 15. Cooling water is circulated through the cooling plates 15 to reduce the temperature of the blast furnace lining Ill and thereby prolong its life and wearability.

The cooling plates 15, to which the present invention is particularly adapted, are hollow, blade-like elements, as best seen in FIG. 2, disposed in a generally rectangular shaped opening in the fire wall 10 and having packed thereabout a lining of fire clay 16 or the like. The cooling plates have a water inlet 24 through which water enters the interior of the hollow cooling plate. The cooling water is circulated through a predetermined path by a series of integrally formed baffies and 21, and the water exits through a water outlet connection 18.

Heretofore, the cooling plate 15 has been held in position by a series of clamps (not shown) or holders; however, such clamps and holders permitted the escape of furnace gas about cooling plate 15 through an opening 25 in the metallic shell 25. That is, the furnace gas following any cracks and permeating through the relatively porous fire brick 13 and fire clay 16 was permitted to leave through the opening 25 in the shell 12 through which the cooling plate 15 extends. Alternatively, the prior art holders and clamps had openings therein through which gas could pass, particularly when the cooling plate shifted relative to the holder therefor.

For the primary purpose of preventing the escape of furnace gas from about the cooling plate 15, a two-piece holder including a sealing flange plate 36, FIG. 1, or 36a, FIG. 3, is hermetically sealed to a metallic cannister means which in turn is hermetically sealed such as by welding about its entire inner edge 31 to the furnace shell. 12 to provide a gas-tight union with the shell 12. The cannister 30 has the general configuration of the portion of the cooling plate 15 extending outwardly of the shell 12 and includes an outwardly turned, attaching flange 34.

The sealing plate 36 has a plurality of spaced apertures 38 about its outer periphery adapted to be aligned with apertures 39 in the flange 34 of the cannister 30. With a suitable gasket 35 disposed between the sealing plate 36 and the flange 34, suitable fasteners such as nuts and bolts are disposed through the aligned apertures 38 and 39 and are tightened to clamp the sealing plate 36 to the flange 34 of the cannister 30 to compress the gasket 35 and seal the encircling space 40 between the cannister 30 and the cooling plate 15.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, the gasket 35 is also disposed between a rear wall 42 of the cooling plate 15 so as to provide a. seal between the rear wall 42 and the sealing plate 36. Threaded pulling hooks 45 or other fasteners are tightened to clamp the sealing plate 36 against the rear wall 42 of the cooling plate 15. Thus, blast furnace gas is sealed against escaping along the rear surface of the rear wall 42 of the cooling plate out through the openings for either threaded attaching and pulling hooks 45 or water pipes 46. The rigid fastening of the cooling plate across its entire rear wall 42 to the flange plate 36 and the securing of the water pipes 46 to the plate 36 as well as to the rear wall 42 of the cooling plate affords a more rigid construction for the cooling plate and water pipes which was hereto fore lacking and which resulted in leaking connections for the water pipes.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIG .1 is adapted to be applied to existing cooling plates, and the embodiment of the invention in FIG. 3 is a form of cooling plate specifically adapted to function in the manner of the present invention. That is, the cooling plate 50, FIG. 3, has integrally formed thereon an outer attaching .flange plate 36a with a plurality of apertures 52 therein to receive the clamping fasteners to be inserted through aligned apertures 52 and 39. Because the attaching flange 36a is integrally formed with the cooling plate, only a small band-like gasket 55 is needed and disposed between the sealing flange 36a and the attaching flange 34 of the cannister 30. Thus, the gasket 55 will seal the space 40 in the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3 to prevent the escape of gas or water from the space 40.

The securing of the cooling plate 15 to the cannister 30, in either embodiments of the invention, affords an additional advantage in that the cooling plate is secured more rigidly in its proper position. It has been experienced that wear ofthe refractory fire brick 13, and the shifting thereof due to the downward pressures of the burden, that the cooling plate 15 was subject to being displaced. Also the opening 25 in the shell 12 tended to weaken the shell at the area of the opening 25. The securing of the cannister 30 to the shell 12 about the opening 25 strengthens the shell 12 at the opening 25.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention affords a gas and water-tight seal for a cooling plate disposed through an opening in a shell in a blast furnace Wall. Also the securing of the cannister 30 to the shell 12 strengthens the shell at the opening 25 therein. Additionally, the securing of the cooling plate to the cannister and thereby to the shell affords a more rigid manner of holding the cooling plate 15 in position.

Hence, while I have illustrated and described preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that these are capable of variation and modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a blast furnace having a wall comprising an outer shell and an inner layer of refractory material, said shell and refractory each having an opening therein, a bladelike cooling plate for said furnace wall to be inserted through said opening in said refractory and said shell and provided with openings enabling cooling water to be circulated therethrough to cool said refractory, a sealing plate secured tightly to the rear surface of said cooling plate substantially in sealing relation therewith and having a portion extending outwardly about the outer periphery of said cooling plate, a cannister means having an inner edge fitting said shell about the periphery of said opening in said shell, said cannister means having a flange for sealing engagement with said sealing plate, clamping means to clamp said sealing plate to the flange of said cannister means and to said cooling plate to prevent the escape of furnace gas through said opening in said shell, and aligned threaded connections in said sealing plate and in the rear surface of said cooling plate to receive said water pipes for said cooling plate.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the inner edge of said cannister means abuts and is Welded to said shell.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 843,950 2/1907 Kennedy 266-32 2,256,179 9/1941 Thomson 26632 2,722,412 11/1955 Anderson et al 266-32 FOREIGN PATENTS 635,629 9/1936 Germany. 1,000,038 1/1957 Germany.

579,958 8/ 194 6 Great Britain.

JOHN F. CAMPBELL, Primary Examiner.

M. L. FAIGUS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A BLAST FURNACE HAVING A WALL COMPRISING AN OUTER SHELL AND AN INNER LAYER OF REFRACTORY MATERIAL, SAID SHELL AND REFRACTORY EACH HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN, A BLADELIKE COOLING PLATE FOR SAID FURNACE WALL TO BE INSERTED THROUGH SAID OPENING IN SAID REFRACTORY AND SAID SHELL AND PROVIDED WITH OPENINGS ENABLING COOLING WATER TO BE CIRCULATED THERETHROUGH TO COOL SAID REFRACTORY, A SEALING PLATE SECURED TIGHTLY TO THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID COOLING PLATE SUBSTANTIALLY IN SEALING RELATION THEREWITH AND HAVING A PORTION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY ABOUT THE OUTER PERIPHERY OF SAID COOLING PLATE, A CANNISTER MEANS HAVING AN INNER EDGE FITTING SAID SHELL ABOUT THE PERIPHERY OF SAID OPENING IN SAID SHELL, SAID CANNISTER MEANS HAVING A FLANGE FOR SEALING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SEALING PLATE, CLAMPING MEANS TO CLAMP SAID SEALING PLATE TO THE FLANGE OF SAID CANNISTER MEANS AND TO SAID COOLING PLATE TO PREVENT THE ESCAPE OF FURNACE GAS THROUGH SAID OPENING IN SAID SHELL, AND ALIGNED THREADED CONNECTIONS IN SAID SEALING PLATGE AND IN THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID COOLING PLATE TO RECEIVE SAID WATER PIPES FOR SAID COOLING PLATE. 